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{"id":23698,"date":"2024-12-02T20:00:42","date_gmt":"2024-12-02T14:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.enago.com\/academy\/?p=23698"},"modified":"2025-04-11T17:44:22","modified_gmt":"2025-04-11T11:44:22","slug":"should-the-academic-community-trust-plagiarism-detectors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uat-wordpress.enago.com\/academy\/should-the-academic-community-trust-plagiarism-detectors\/","title":{"rendered":"Should the Academic Community Trust Plagiarism Detectors?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>You can also listen to this article as an audio recording.<\/p>\n<!--[if lt IE 9]><script>document.createElement('audio');<\/script><![endif]-->\n<audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-23698-1\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"https:\/\/www.enago.com\/academy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/amazon_polly_218.mp3?_=1\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.enago.com\/academy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/amazon_polly_218.mp3\">https:\/\/www.enago.com\/academy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/amazon_polly_218.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n<p>Academic integrity is a serious issue in the research community. It ensures that the scientists remain dedicated to producing original research and ideas that lead to scientific breakthroughs. Therefore, they need to be diligent in keeping science honest and safeguarding it against misleading claims and academic dishonesty.<\/p>\n<div id=\"om-rn7q8zu3esv8oxwrja7x-holder\"><\/div>\n<p><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/a.opmnstr.com\/app\/js\/api.min.js\" data-campaign=\"rn7q8zu3esv8oxwrja7x\" data-user=\"41855\" async><\/script><\/p>\n<p>One way the scientific community can do this is by protecting science and its associated literature from plagiarism. There are many different types of plagiarism that are harmful in their own way. To protect against plagiarism, academic journals have <a href=\"https:\/\/www.the-scientist.com\/news-opinion\/journals-plagiarism-detectors-may-flag-papers-in-error--66043\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" class=\"broken_link\">started using plagiarism detectors<\/a> that rely on algorithms. This has led to a debate about plagiarism, the use of plagiarism detectors, and the role of editors.<strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_74 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-grey ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"ez-toc-pull-right ez-toc-btn ez-toc-btn-xs ez-toc-btn-default ez-toc-toggle\" aria-label=\"Toggle Table of Content\"><span class=\"ez-toc-js-icon-con\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/uat-wordpress.enago.com\/academy\/should-the-academic-community-trust-plagiarism-detectors\/#The_Drawbacks_of_Plagiarism_Detectors\" >The Drawbacks of Plagiarism Detectors<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/uat-wordpress.enago.com\/academy\/should-the-academic-community-trust-plagiarism-detectors\/#The_Need_for_Manual_Detection\" >The Need for Manual Detection<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/uat-wordpress.enago.com\/academy\/should-the-academic-community-trust-plagiarism-detectors\/#Different_Plagiarism_Detection_Software\" >Different Plagiarism Detection Software<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/uat-wordpress.enago.com\/academy\/should-the-academic-community-trust-plagiarism-detectors\/#Fixing_a_Broken_System\" >Fixing a Broken System<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"The_Drawbacks_of_Plagiarism_Detectors\"><\/span>The Drawbacks of Plagiarism Detectors<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Many researchers shared their experiences of journal rejection due to the reliance on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.enago.com\/plagiarism-checker\/?utm_source=academy&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_campaign=keywords&amp;utm_term=article\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">plagiarism detector<\/a>. Debora Weber-Wulff, a professor of media and computing at the HTW Berlin \u2212 University of Applied Sciences, thinks plagiarism detectors are a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/d41586-019-00893-5\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">crutch and a significant problem<\/a>. Journals are relying too much on them, rather translations or information taken from multiple sources. Furthermore, journals often rely on a single report generated by these plagiarism detectors. They rarely seek for a second opinion.<\/p>\n<p>Weber-Wulff says that the reports are often difficult to interpret and, at times, incorrect. The scores produced, referred to as \u201coriginality scores\u201d or \u201cnon-unique content\u201d, could be difficult to analyze without a clear context. For example, they sometimes report false positives for common phrases, names of institutions, or references. In addition, the software cannot accurately detect plagiarism in cases of translations or information taken from multiple sources.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.enago.com\/plagiarism-checker\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.enago.com\/academy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/900x200.png\" alt=\"How to Avoid Plagiarism in Research Papers (Part 1)\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\" class=\"lazyload\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Another drawback is that plagiarism detectors simply point out text duplication. This means that they look for a string of three to five words that appears in another manuscript. In this sense, plagiarism detectors might fail at determining legitimate plagiarism.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"The_Need_for_Manual_Detection\"><\/span>The Need for Manual Detection<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Bernd Pulverer, chief editor of The EMBO Journal, says that these systems \u201ccannot capture the plagiarism of ideas, rehashing findings without attribution, or the use of figures or data without permission\u201d. On the other hand, an editor can fix these issues. An editor reads a text and studies all parts of a manuscript for inconsistencies.<\/p>\n<p>Jean-Fran\u00e7ois Bonnefon, a behavioral scientist at the French Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, shared his experiences with a plagiarism detector. He explained that a manuscript he submitted was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.enago.com\/academy\/fraud-research-many-types-plagiarism\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">rejected by detection software<\/a>. However, it was not the content of his ideas or his research that was flagged. Instead, the flagged content included the methods, references, and author affiliations. This is a serious error but avoidable if an editor reviewed the manuscript. But, as Bonnefon said, \u201cthere is obviously no human in the loop here.\u201d His statement is a testament of the limitations of plagiarism detectors. Taking the person (editor) out of the process gives full autonomy to a system that relies on algorithms.<\/p>\n<p>Travis Gerke, of the Moffit Cancer Center in Florida, had a similar experience. The plagiarism report from a paper he submitted to one of Springer Nature\u2019s journals primarily flagged the author list, citations, and standard language about patient consent. Gerke said it was \u201codd\u201d that he had to explain how these sections of his paper <a href=\"https:\/\/www.enago.com\/academy\/crosscheck-tool-combat-plagiarism\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">were not plagiarized<\/a>. Had an editor looked over the manuscript, he or she would understand that language about patient consent is standard for the entire scientific community.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Different_Plagiarism_Detection_Software\"><\/span>Different Plagiarism Detection Software<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>There are <a href=\"https:\/\/www.enago.com\/academy\/top-4-tools-to-detect-and-avoid-plagiarism\/\">four main plagiarism detection tools<\/a> used by academic journals. Each of these has its own unique features, but also its own limitations.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Grammarly scans billions of web pages and draws from a large pool of academic resources.<\/li>\n<li>iThenticate uses an extensive database that includes close to 50 million works from 800 scholarly publishers.<\/li>\n<li>Plagscan uses a large database of academic and digital content.<\/li>\n<li>Crossref compares full-text manuscripts to an archive of nearly 40 million manuscripts and 20 million web sources.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The most prominent limitation in these systems is Non-Verbatim Plagiarism. This involves different approaches to rewriting a text, including \u201ctext laundering\u201d. In a study on the plagiarism software used by Publication Integrity and Ethics (PIE), a British research ethics organization, \u201ctext laundering\u201d is the method used to \u201ctrick\u201d the plagiarism software. It <a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.discovermagazine.com\/neuroskeptic\/2014\/04\/17\/how-fool-plagiarism-detector\/#.XSQnJOszaUl\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">involves changing the order of words<\/a>, removing filler words, or simply using synonyms in place of the original words. Since plagiarism detectors do not analyze the content of the work, it fails to analyze plagiarized ideas or information.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Fixing_a_Broken_System\"><\/span>Fixing a Broken System<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Plagiarism is serious and is harmful. It distorts the work of scientists and researchers and impedes scientific progress. In addition, it could lead to a lack of interest in scientific fields. However, the academic community is trying to fix these issues.<\/p>\n<p>Springer Nature has begun to incorporate mandatory editor reviews for submissions to their journals. Susie Winter, the director of communications at Springer Nature, recently explained the process to <em>The Scientist<\/em>. \u201cPapers are first reviewed by a person, then checked using technology, and then checked by a person again\u2026All decisions at Springer Nature are editorially led.\u201d The inclusion of an editor to oversee the review of submissions should be mandatory. Firstly, it could <a href=\"https:\/\/www.enago.com\/academy\/19-scientific-reports-board-members-resign-over-plagiarism-dispute\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">help interpret the reports<\/a> generated by the plagiarism detectors. Secondly, it might find and correct the errors in these reports.<\/p>\n<p>Many publishers, including Elsevier and Springer Nature, have started programs that test complex artificial intelligence tools used to support the peer review process. This focuses on the AI program\u2019s ability in identifying statistical issues or summarizing the paper by identifying its main statements. \u201cThese will turn out to be useful editorial tools,\u201d Bernd Pulverer says. However, like most who share his sentiments, he does not feel that they, or any other <a href=\"https:\/\/www.enago.com\/plagiarism-checker\/?utm_source=academy&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_campaign=keywords&amp;utm_term=article\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">plagiarism checker<\/a>, will be as effective as an editor\u2019s eye and expertise.<\/p>\n<p>What are your experiences with plagiarism in academia? Have you dealt with an issue concerning plagiarism detectors and academic journals? Please share your thoughts with us in the comments section below.<\/p>\n<p>What are your experiences with plagiarism in academia? Have you ever thought \u201cLet me test my paper for plagiarism and turn it in a <a href=\"https:\/\/medium.com\/@enagoacademy\/choosing-the-right-plagiarism-detection-tool-key-challenges-and-selection-parameters-6f73acfa8a9c\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener dofollow\" class=\"broken_link\">plagiarism checker<\/a>\u201d and then dealt with an issue? Please share your thoughts with us in the comments section below.<\/p>\n<div class=\"gsp_post_data\" data-post_type=\"post\" data-cat=\"publication-stages,publication-ethics\" data-modified=\"120\" data-title=\"Should the Academic Community Trust Plagiarism Detectors?\" data-home=\"https:\/\/uat-wordpress.enago.com\/academy\"><\/div><div style=\"display:flex; gap:10px;justify-content:\" class=\"wps-pgfw-pdf-generate-icon__wrapper-frontend\">\n\t\t<a  href=\"https:\/\/uat-wordpress.enago.com\/academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23698?action=genpdf&amp;id=23698\" class=\"pgfw-single-pdf-download-button\" ><img data-src=\"https:\/\/uat-wordpress.enago.com\/academy\/wp-content\/plugins\/pdf-generator-for-wp\/admin\/src\/images\/PDF_Tray.svg\" title=\"Generate PDF\" style=\"width:auto; height:45px;\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\" class=\"lazyload\"><\/a>\n\t\t<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>You can also listen to this article as an audio recording. Academic integrity is a&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8169,"featured_media":23700,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[751,754],"tags":[1442,1492,1493],"ppma_author":[1908],"class_list":["post-23698","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-publication-stages","category-publication-ethics","tag-all-about-plagiarism","tag-ethics-misconduct","tag-importance-of-research-ethics"],"better_featured_image":{"id":23700,"alt_text":"plagiarism detectors","caption":"","description":"With the rising number of cases of plagiarism, the journals have resorted to plagiarism detectors in order to publish original research. However, there are several cases wherein the reports generated by these detectors are incorrect. What now?","media_type":"image","media_details":{"width":750,"height":430,"file":"2019\/07\/ion-1.png","sizes":{"thumbnail":{"file":"ion-1-170x150.png","width":170,"height":150,"mime-type":"image\/png","source_url":"https:\/\/uat-wordpress.enago.com\/academy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/ion-1-170x150.png"},"medium":{"file":"ion-1-401x230.png","width":401,"height":230,"mime-type":"image\/png","source_url":"https:\/\/uat-wordpress.enago.com\/academy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/ion-1-401x230.png"},"large":{"file":"ion-1-750x430.png","width":750,"height":430,"mime-type":"image\/png","source_url":"https:\/\/uat-wordpress.enago.com\/academy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/ion-1-750x430.png"},"better-amp-small":{"file":"ion-1-100x100.png","width":100,"height":100,"mime-type":"image\/png","source_url":"https:\/\/uat-wordpress.enago.com\/academy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/ion-1-100x100.png"},"better-amp-normal":{"file":"ion-1-260x200.png","width":260,"height":200,"mime-type":"image\/png","source_url":"https:\/\/uat-wordpress.enago.com\/academy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/ion-1-260x200.png"},"better-amp-large":{"file":"ion-1-450x300.png","width":450,"height":300,"mime-type":"image\/png","source_url":"https:\/\/uat-wordpress.enago.com\/academy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/ion-1-450x300.png"},"publisher-tb1":{"file":"ion-1-86x64.png","width":86,"height":64,"mime-type":"image\/png","source_url":"https:\/\/uat-wordpress.enago.com\/academy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/ion-1-86x64.png"},"publisher-sm":{"file":"ion-1-210x136.png","width":210,"height":136,"mime-type":"image\/png","source_url":"https:\/\/uat-wordpress.enago.com\/academy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/ion-1-210x136.png"},"publisher-mg2":{"file":"ion-1-279x220.png","width":279,"height":220,"mime-type":"image\/png","source_url":"https:\/\/uat-wordpress.enago.com\/academy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/ion-1-279x220.png"},"publisher-md":{"file":"ion-1-357x210.png","width":357,"height":210,"mime-type":"image\/png","source_url":"https:\/\/uat-wordpress.enago.com\/academy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/ion-1-357x210.png"},"publisher-tall-sm":{"file":"ion-1-180x217.png","width":180,"height":217,"mime-type":"image\/png","source_url":"https:\/\/uat-wordpress.enago.com\/academy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/ion-1-180x217.png"},"publisher-tall-lg":{"file":"ion-1-267x322.png","width":267,"height":322,"mime-type":"image\/png","source_url":"https:\/\/uat-wordpress.enago.com\/academy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/ion-1-267x322.png"},"publisher-tall-big":{"file":"ion-1-368x430.png","width":368,"height":430,"mime-type":"image\/png","source_url":"https:\/\/uat-wordpress.enago.com\/academy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/ion-1-368x430.png"},"Book Review":{"file":"ion-1-320x430.png","width":320,"height":430,"mime-type":"image\/png","source_url":"https:\/\/uat-wordpress.enago.com\/academy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/ion-1-320x430.png"}},"image_meta":{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0","keywords":[]}},"post":23698,"source_url":"https:\/\/uat-wordpress.enago.com\/academy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/ion-1.png"},"acf":{"faq_main_heading":"","faq_heading_one":"","faq_heading_two":"","faq_heading_three":"","faq_heading_four":"","faq_heading_five":"","faq_heading_six":"","faq_description_one":"","faq_description_two":"","faq_description_three":"","faq_description_four":"","faq_description_five":"","faq_description_six":""},"views":1304,"single_webinar_page_date":null,"single_webinar_page_time":null,"session_agenda":null,"who_should_attend_this_session":null,"about_the_speaker_field":null,"co-webinar-sec":null,"co_webinar_sec_one":null,"speaker-name":null,"webinar-date":null,"webinar-time":null,"webinar-s-image":null,"custum_webinar_category":null,"authors":[{"term_id":1908,"user_id":8169,"is_guest":0,"slug":"eneditor","display_name":"Enago Academy","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/046a0ceeb5c38172654db93f9919593bc2e4e1391702eb8b7248865941ddbe18?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","author_category":"","user_url":"","last_name":"Academy","first_name":"Enago","job_title":"","description":"Enago Academy, the knowledge arm of Enago, offers comprehensive and up-to-date resources on academic research and scholarly publishing to all levels of scholarly professionals: students, researchers, editors, publishers, and academic societies. It is also a popular platform for networking, allowing researchers to learn, share, and discuss their experiences within their network and community. The team, which comprises subject matter experts, academicians, trainers, and technical project managers, are passionate about helping researchers at all levels establish a successful career, both within and outside academia."}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/uat-wordpress.enago.com\/academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23698","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/uat-wordpress.enago.com\/academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/uat-wordpress.enago.com\/academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uat-wordpress.enago.com\/academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8169"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uat-wordpress.enago.com\/academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23698"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/uat-wordpress.enago.com\/academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23698\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":50719,"href":"https:\/\/uat-wordpress.enago.com\/academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23698\/revisions\/50719"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uat-wordpress.enago.com\/academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23700"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/uat-wordpress.enago.com\/academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23698"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uat-wordpress.enago.com\/academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23698"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uat-wordpress.enago.com\/academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23698"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uat-wordpress.enago.com\/academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=23698"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}